Citadel Studios, a game company founded by three former Ultima Online developers, is currently working on a multiplayer role-playing game called Shards Online, which focuses on giving players power and freedom, according to co-founders Tim Cotten and Derek Brinkmann.

Speaking to Polygon, the developers said Shards Online is Citadel Studios' answer to letting players decide how they want to play. Brinkmann described the game as a player-run MMO, which means at the highest level they can run their own servers and change the settings of that world, altering how long nighttime lasts or how quickly players can gain skills.

BEIJING, May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Perfect World Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: PWRD) ("Perfect World"), a leading online game developer and operator based in China, and Atari, S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris: ATA) ("Atari"), today announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby Perfect World would acquire 100% equity interest in Cryptic Studios, Inc. ("Cryptic Studios"), a California-based online game developer from Atari, the sole shareholder of Cryptic Studios. Under the stock purchase agreement, Perfect World will pay an aggregate purchase price of approximately EUR35.0 million in cash, subject to working capital and other adjustments as provided in the agreement. The consummation of the transactions contemplated in the agreement is subject to satisfaction of closing conditions.

Welcome to the Champions Online Free-to-Play information center! It's here you can learn about our plans for the next few months, including how things will affect our current subscribers and what new options will be available to everyone.
Here's a quick overview of what you can expect in 2011:

Unlimited Play Time – Play as much as you like, as long as you like, at absolutely no cost. No subscription or credit card required.

Your Own Hero, Your Own Story – Become a hero, encounter your Nemesis and advance to maximum level at no cost.

Play Your Way – Utilize the optional web-based and in-game C-Store to purchase gameplay upgrades or additional premium content.

We'll be debuting Champions Online Free-to-Play in the first quarter of 2011, but we plan on entering a special closed beta November 9, 2010. We can't wait to share this latest edition of Champions Online with you!

About this time last year, Electronic Arts tweaked its organizational structure to lump BioWare and Mythic Entertainment into a newly formed massively multiplayer online/role-playing game group. The move put BioWare heads Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk atop the pyramid, while longtime Mythic boss and cofounder Mark Jacobs departed the company. Now, EA has taken one more step toward folding the two studios together, confirming for GameSpot today that Mythic Entertainment has been renamed BioWare Mythic.
... [Read More]

BURBANK, CA – June 3, 2010– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that Turbine, Inc. will unveil a major update this fall, making The Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO) free-to-play for everyone. Extending its award-winning story, LOTRO delivers the ultimate adventure featuring a massive world with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, and a rich set of features that until now could only be found in premium subscription-based online games.

Launching this fall across North America and Europe, with Codemasters operating the game free-to-play in Europe, LOTRO will introduce Turbine’s innovative new pricing model that allows players to download the game and play for free, purchase expansions, quest packs, items, and account services a la carte from the new LOTRO Store, or join the VIP program to get... [Read More]

This is a great news and we are proud to be able to announce it today:

Ryzom is now the first commercial MMORPG completely Open Source and the Free Software Foundation joins us in this initiative. If you don't know what open source software is, you'll find an explanation on wikipedia.

The whole source code of Ryzom (client, server and tools) is now under the GNU AGPLv3 Open Source license.